I come from very humble beginnings, raised on the south side of Chicago across from the infamous, now defunct, Chicago housing projects known as Ida B. Wells. My mother, diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic when I was 3, raised my brothers and me single-handedly without familial or institutional support. Very early on, art became my escape, my salvation. I would sit in my room for hours writing poems, making up stories with my dollies, making paintings, and singing to myself. At that time, I never dreamed it would become my profession, my life. I am fortunate enough to have the tools to express the things that I saw as a young person in a not-so-nice environment. Truly, I feel lucky.
I am an art practioner. I practice art from the moment I awake and even while I sleep. I have had the good fortune of working as an actress and playwright professionally for the past 15 years, receiving tremendous accolades, and working at some of the top theatrical venues in the United States as well as internationally. As an actress, I am drawn to new plays, particularly new plays that integrate movement, music, image, and the written word. As a playwright, my writing tends to be incredibly poetic, juxtaposing image and sound within the language. It is my greatest joy to be able to bring my multi-disciplinarian expertise to the rehearsal room and performance.
Thematically, my work in both disciplines seems to be consumed with the idea of justice. What is justice? How is it served? Where does justice exist, and how does justice fail us? It is one of my greatest fascinations to interrogate the idea of justice and where does it live and breathe in the modern storytelling world.
Professionally, my objectives can be broken down into 3 main components: to seamlessly integrate various mediums of artistic expression in the context of my work as an actress and playwright, creating a new synthesis of artistry beyond what has currently been recognizable in my work; to incorporate ancient mythological storytelling elements in my work of modern myth making, using ancient mythology as a basis for understanding current human interactions; and to sustain myself solely as an artist, including in that definition of artist as community transformer.
Personally, I come from a family of life learners. With an entire generation before me all with secondary and terminal degrees, it has been instilled in me since birth to be in constant pursuit of knowledge. My mother and father come from a generation of African-Americans who were incredibly focused on making sure the generations after them understood our history and the importance of education in relationship to our race; that many generations of African-Americans in this country were denied the right to an education, and that I should take education very seriously because many people died for the right for me to study and build myself as a human being. As a result of this influence, I am constantly in the practice of gathering material through research, reading books and newspapers, perusing websites, attending performances, and experiencing life. All of these elements integrate themselves in some way into my work.
My exploration of various art forms broadens the perspective and experience of my current work, affording me multiple expertises in the art of storytelling to use at my disposal. Being able to share my practice in this way not only sustains me artistically, but by sharing these gifts, enriches my community.